


Solstice of his Heart | Rubritha Lore | Zephyr & Topaz

by DivineTwins



Category: Rubritha
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-15
Updated: 2021-03-15
Packaged: 2021-03-24 04:07:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,248
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30066402
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DivineTwins/pseuds/DivineTwins
Relationships: Origin | Ochre, Zephyr | Topaz





	Solstice of his Heart | Rubritha Lore | Zephyr & Topaz

_34 Scorch Season_

The sand in the desert's wide expanse shifted every gust of the nights wind. It curled into immense shapes of massive dunes and travelled miles of blank space, only filled with the grains of yellow sand. The skittering shapes of cream coloured foxes burrowing into their dens occasionally plodded over the cooling sand, only lit by one of the two moons, Mora. It was the largest of the two celestial bodies, and one with a faint pink glow, lighting the desert a deep magenta as the sun withered away over the horizon. From above, the desert was lonely and cruel, even at its coolest hour. It was a stark contrast to the once frozen and icy land that resided far away, a reminder of the numbness the cold could establish. It was a memory that the individual which was leading a formation of several groups had to remove, as he felt the chills run up his skin and bite at it, remembering the sting of falling into freezing waters and ravines full of glittering icicle daggers. However, that was decades ago, and the memories were whisked far from his conscious as the desert's last warm winds caressed his large wings, allowing his glide to last a bit longer before he had to flap his powerful wings again. Behind him were a group of thirty others, each following with their wings spread out. From below they blotted out the sky earlier in the afternoon, but now they were silent and dark, moving in the shadows of which the desert provided. As they all quietly moved in sync, the leader had noted the further into the desert they went, the craggy canyons and massive cacti vanished, replaced with the sea of massive dunes, and the wind howling in his ears. Luckily, the last of the evenings warm desert air provided them with drifts of wind that lifted their wings up, allowing smoother and higher flight with little effort.

The further they flew forward, the more the individual at the front had to focus, squeezing his eyes shut as brief memories of frozen tundra kept returning to the front of his mind. _'You are allowing the plague of your father's kingdom infect you years later. You are only going to hurt yourself if you continue. This is a desert, I am are further away to the Ice Dynasty than I am to my Palace. Relax. Open your eyes.'_ Ever so slowly did his red irises open, his slit pupils observing the rolling dunes in front of them, and luckily in the far distance the glow of firelight in the northern horizon catches his eye. Tilting his wings down, the thirty others did the same, bending downward to slowly cruise lower as now the desert air brought its light winds. It was more livelier the closer they approached the upcoming desolate city. A group of startled camels with riders looked up, pinning their ears back as the group rushes above them, their blonde hair and tanned skin identifying them as Sand Dynasty Ulatlus'. Several individuals of the group that were flying overhead looked to their ruler with expressions asking for permission, and the response was a glare. They knew well to be picky with wanderers and ones that had animals in their possession. Their blood had always come back with more diseases in their veins than thought possible, rendering them useless.

**"Zephyr, you are certain you want to go through with this?"** A voice resonated in his ear, and all Zephyr could do was turn his head, his eyes connecting briefly with one of his most trusted men; Origin. The Blood Ulatlus was largely built, similar to Zephyr, but his hair was fully slicked back, curled slightly. It was tinted a slight golden colour, and his irises were a soft red which gave away his entire façade of being a rather kind Harvest squadron leader. Zephyr's lips parted briefly at the question, furrowing his brow. **"You are believing that this village is overrun by those remaining religious sun groups, aren't you?"** Questioning Origin's reasons for his hesitation, they were approaching faster than originally believed. Older structures popped out of sand dunes, half and almost fully buried, which meant the village was prone to sandstorms and rebuilding houses after ones that trap and suffocate Sand Ulatlus' inside their walls. _'Who truly knows how old these buildings could possibly be. . . and how many succumbed to their own faulty design.'_ Zephyr felt a chill ghost over his wings as Origin once again muddled his thoughts with conversation. **"I wouldn't be worried about them if not for what they do. Most of them don't have worthy blood to be a donor, and they have been intent on wounding our squadrons that reside here for the majority of the Scorch Season."** Origin stated, gripping the board of names that had the majority of the Sand Dynasty documented. Zephyr could see him flipping through various pages on the clip board, many of the names were written in black ink, followed by their date of birth, blood type, and then in big bold red font, **'INCOMPATIBLE.'** A bit over a quarter of every page had the incriminating words, meaning they were infected by a sexually transmitted disease or were infected by something transmittable via blood. Zephyr was stubborn though, and he wanted to collect data of this village in particular due to its size and connections it had to the religious sun cult. They ran more than half the village three years prior when Zephyr last had a document sent to him about their census. In his gut, he knew it had gotten worse.

Outside the village limits there were old and broken tombstones that fleeted out of the sand dunes. Many were buried underneath, but the ones that stuck out were barely standing. Several of them were lopsided and the rounded edges were cracking from erosion. It went on for several minutes, more and more popped up before the southern entrance to the village that had a gaping arch, with an ancient writing carved into the sandstone it was made from. The letters were illegible, even once all thirty Blood Ulatlus' landed softly on to the cooling sand. The roaring of two massive torches on either side of the pillars holding up the arch made Zephyr's ears flick downward. Origin glided down beside him, passing the clipboard with a grunt. **"I hope you know what you're doing, Zephyr."** Side-eying the king, Origin chuffed. **"Have a little faith."** Zephyr chuckled, bumping his arm against Origin's own once he moved to collect his squadron. Zephyr watched as Origin took ten Ulatlus' from the group, rounding towards the eastern entrance whereas Zephyr stood in front of the other twenty. Ten of them were well trained, and the other ten were new recruits, destined to become future and permanent members of the Harvesting team. **"I apologize for the long flight, but I picked this village for a reason."** Zephyr unsheathed his long sword, it's serrated blades glinting in the nearby torchlight. **"Ten of you have had the honor to be trained by me, to hopefully bring a new dawn to our Harvesting. Now, if you do not know me, I like to get work done."** Stepping forward, Zephyr brandished his sword to the group, waiting for them to take out their own specialized weapons. **"I'm not going to put you into an obstacle course. You won't learn that way. You learn by doing the hard work."** With a grunt, Zephyr overlooks the group of trainees and snarls. **"Let me make one thing clear before we start."** Zephyr bares his fangs. **"If you hurt ANYONE without proper reason to, you will be kicked out of the program and punished. The innocent shall never have their blood spilt by your weapons, understand? Good, now round them up."** Turning his back, Zephyr feels the beats of forty wings launch into the sky and into the village, his hands clutching his clipboard as he too, walks into the dangerous village.

Above him were a million stars, each one staring down on this poor village. Stepping inside, the scent of roasting camel meat, waves of spice, and firewood burning was prevalent. Sand Dynasty children were running about around the front steps of strangers homes, overlooked by older and disgruntled adults. In the distance, outside the northern villages gate, a group of young feminine males danced around a glimmering fire, cheering as others sat atop the roof of the caravan which was looming behind them. Cuts of meat hung from a line outside an opened window, soaking up the desert air, and many clay pots looked as if they were to hold stagnant water. Probably from the wells dotted out into the barren wastes. Some could be so faraway it would take an entire day to retrieve one clay pot of water in the burning afternoon. Many of the buildings had candles on their windowsills, or flickering torches attached to the walls or on poles that were stuck into the deep sand. Zephyr felt himself compare to it to his old home. Pillars of great ice rising above everyone, children were dressed and new manners well, and the warm air never came. Cursed forever into eternal cold. It had all melted away once the foreboding trumpet reverberated into the night. Zephyr knew Origin blew it to scare away the religious sun cult, but it only drew attention of those who were curious. Several children had ducked away into an alleyway as Zephyr observed from behind a sandstone pillar, and all the candles aglow mysteriously went out, one-by-one. They knew the Blood Dynasty was here, and deep down Zephyr understood they were ready to fight if threatened.

From his post, Zephyr watched as the village went quiet. The feminine forms dancing around an open flame had huddled into what Zephyr presumes was the caravan, the large opening of it was now covered by a long and thick curtain. Something felt odd about that particular group. There was a yellow flag on the very top of it, and whenever the brief desert wind moved across the land, it slightly drifted, revealing a black stylized outline of a sun. Slowly he removed himself from his protection, and several other Blood Ulatlus' crept into view, silent and calculated. They were against the magenta lit sand as Mora watched them surround the village, encasing them. From there, five from each group approached the front steps of each house, peering into their windows to see if they have a Blood Dynasty emblem which meant they had donated in the last three years. None of them had them. As they all began knocking on the doors of the house, some came out with little to no resistance. It had been code to allow one family member from each household to be sent to the Blood Dynasty palace to donate. To Zephyr's right, a young male stepped into custody without violence, instead he followed them out after parting away from his mother. Those who showed no violent tendencies were free to walk, fly, and have a comfortable amount of space to follow the Blood Ulatlus'.

For thirty minutes Zephyr observed and occasionally he had approached some of the Sand Ulatlus' that were willing to talk. Many of them had been whispering about the religious sun cult, and it had made Zephyr more nervous about the immobile and unresponsive caravan that was stowed away at the northern entrance. It worried him enough that he leaned down to one of the trainees, his voice low and smooth, **"Inspect that caravan. I want whoever is controlling it brought to me, including those who reside within. Now go. That's an order."** Zephyr glared as the cadet bowed and took his lead, whistling over two others in his squadron which glided down from two separate rooftops. For now his worry was sated.

Standing up on one of the many steps with his wings spread, leading to an older and almost vandalized temple, Zephyr called out names that had been recorded over the past three hours during their Harvest. Many families watched from their doorstep, eyes aglow and their curiosity spiking as their loved ones names were called into the dead of night by a strange accented voice. There had been four whole pages, some were sent back because of their blood being incompatible with donating, which Origin had believed would of happened. By the end of the role call there was only two pages with new names. Disappointing that half of the group had to be sent back because of the diseases they had in their blood. Keeping them was useless and dangerous. Sending out infected blood to orphanages, schools, and hospitals to healing Blood Ulatlus' could make them incredibly sick or kill them. Grunting in defeat, most of them were paired with a squadron to fly over to a camp that had been set up a day prior by Blood Ulatlus'. Origin had been beside the king for most of the night, observing the crowd of now confused and a nervous Sand Ulatlus'. Many had never experienced this treatment before, and so the Harvesters had their weapons at ready. **"Not bad for what I expected. Two whole new pages of names, and the other ones are expiring with their emblem."** Flipping up a page from Zephyr's clipboard, Origin snorted. From his perspective Zephyr looked less than pleased as they stepped down the temples entrance and back on to the sand covered streets. **"It's not enough.** Zephyr scrunched up his nose, letting one of his hands rake through his messy hair. **"More than half these two new pages are citizens of this village, and like you said, that religious sun cult is continuing to threaten MY squadrons. Why have we n-"** As Zephyr ranted his problems to Origin who seemed more focused on the approaching and breathless squadron member he cut the king off by raising his hand. The panting trainee came up to them, a long visible gash had opened and bubbled warm blood near his chest. Zephyr could smell it. **"T-The caravan, y-your majesty. . . they a-attacked. P-Please."** Gripping his shoulder in pain as the bodily fluids stained his cadet uniform, Zephyr's eyes focused in on the caravan, but now there was nothing but a trail of dust as they road away. **"Get your squadron and GO AFTER IT. I WANT THAT CARAVAN!"** Yelling at Origin beside him, he turns to look at his injured trainee. **"Now, I want you to put pressure on the wound so you don't bleed out. Your life is important, more important than harvesting. Can you squadron get you back to the camps we have south east?"** Questioning, Zephyr pulls out a long string of white fabric from a bag strapped to his hip, he then presses it against the bleeding Ulatlus' shoulder, whistling over three members of his squadron. **"You, you, you. Take him to the camps southeast and get him medical attention immediately. Keep this cloth to soak and put pressure on the gash. You understand me? That is an order."** The three bow and instantly take their injured member by the hand, hoisting him up and carrying him away as he rests his wings. Hurriedly, Zephyr turns to the second in command after Origin, Nox. **"Nox, I want you to make sure none, and I mean NONE of this documentation lost, and including all these people. Have your squadron round them up and follow the three I sent back to the camp for the night. That is an order."** Zephyr hands him the clipboard after wiping his hands that had parts of his cadet's blood on them. Nox bows and turns to the crowd, and all Zephyr can hear is his voice reverberating in the village as he jumps into the air. Zephyr needed that caravan.

They had not gotten far when Zephyr had the time to achieve a high altitude, his wings skimming the night sky as he watches the shape of the caravan tumble across the open desert. However, they were fast and agile, the box car looking contraption they had bumbled and dipped over dunes as if they were ocean waves. At the front, six camels traversed the landscape, swerving whenever one of Origin's squadron members neared them with the lanterns they carried. There was a flurry of varying noises down below. Origin's commands, the acceptance of the order, the camels hooves trudging on the coarse sand, and the barking laughs and shouts from within the caravan. Zephyr was able to keep up with from high above them, beating his wings and adjusting himself to make sure his plan was going to work properly. For one, the lanterns would not be used to set the caravan on fire, that would hurt the innocent, if there were any inside. Secondly, they could not tip it over, that would damage and possibly crush Ulatlus', including the innocent. Lastly, Zephyr did not want the squadrons killing the camels. They were valuable in nature and mortally wounding them was too risky, they too could flip over and once again, tip over the caravan. Zephyr gathered his thoughts and tucked in his wings, allowing himself to propel forward to catch up to the caravan. From there he adjusted himself in the right angle, swooping down and rolling across the top of the box car. The clang of his metal against his chest and the roof sucked the wind out of his lungs and he gritted his teeth, his fingers tucking into of the folds of metal that made the top of the caravan easy to climb. Origin followed suit after watching Zephyr, propelling himself upward at a high altitude and swooping down on the roof, this time it made the entire thing jolt when three of his members rammed into from behind, their hands scraping along the metal. **"I want them to pull the backside of the caravan OFF the camels!"** Zephyr barked at Origin, the wind in their ears and the jittering of metal was loud and obnoxious. Luckily Origin had heard him correctly and swung himself around, gripping the edge of the roof alongside five others that were pulling back on the heavy box car. Meanwhile, Zephyr was able to stand upright, much to his older self's dismay. When he was younger, surfing on the of back of trains in the railyard was easy, but a wild caravan would prove more of a challenge as it was not attached to rails.

Seething, Zephyr was able to make it to the front half of the caravan that was attached to the camels via long and thick ropes. There was also a Sand Ulatlus controlling them, swerving, ducking, and falling over sand dunes, and one in particular that nearly made Zephyr tumbled off the roof. Snarling, Zephyr reaches down to the mans hands that held the tight ropes and dug his feet into the metal above, hanging upside down as he snags it out of his hands, the metallic gloves he wore scraping along the Sand Ulatlus' skin. Screaming at the rough contact, Origin's head poked up from behind the caravan, and he too left his squadron to pull back on the metal to stop the out of control box car. **"Origin! Help me unhook these ropes from the front, I need the camels to be detached right now!"** With no excuses or arguments, Origin and Zephyr swing down to the front of the caravan and kick the Sand Ulatlus' back into the curtain closed off back room they had, and a flurry of gasps occurred when he tumbled into it. Meanwhile, Zephyr and Origin hold on to the reigns and slowly descend closer to the rubber tires that treaded along the sand. Zephyr unhooked three of the camels on the left, and Origin unhooked three of the camels on the right. The creaking metal and sound of hooves galloping into the distance meant that the caravan had halted and the noises inside the caravan were frenzied and afraid. Panting, Zephyr and Origin let oxygen fill their lungs. **"Stay here, I'm making sure they do not escape from the front and back.** Quietly, Zephyr takes one of the lanterns from one of the squadron's hands, and he glares up at them. **"Arrest every single Ulatlus that is in this caravan, understood?"** With their polite bows, Zephyr parts the black curtains and shines the lantern in, and his eyes falter briefly.

In the bright light his irises connect instantly to one individual that was hiding under one of the benches that straddled the walls of the interior. Their eyes were a soft yellow, glittering with dashes of evening red, with their face tanned and dotted with many dark freckles. They had their ears pinned back, and gentle tears were bubbling in the corner of their eyes. For a moment Zephyr's ears lowered, and all of a sudden it was hard to swallow. There were several of the feminine faces underneath the benches, each with similar tanned skins but they were all blonde excluding the one that whimpered aloud when he was noticed by Zephyr. Alongside the forms of soft boys were darker and larger Sand Ulatlus males that hissed when the light was shone into their eyes. **"Arrest these ones, do it now."** With a snort, Zephyr stepped down from the steps that lead to the caravan. When the squadron members entered and came out with the disgruntled men, they sneered viciously at Zephyr, scrunching their nose up and baring their shorter fangs at him. **"You have no right to arrest us! You're not our king."** Slithered one in particular, he had been one of the smaller males, but he had the voice of a venomous snake. **"I do have the right to arrest you. You have no monarchy, it is gone. Your Dynasty is comprised of cults similar to your own, and yours has been threatening my kingdom and squadrons for years now."** Zephyr narrowed his eyes as the largest male came out. The Sand Ulatlus' skin was dark and tanned, with vivid green eyes that struck the wrong chord with Zephyr. They reminded him of his father's. **"Bah, Zephyr. The king who feels he can change the world and how it works. You might of gotten rid of your competition in your family, Zephyr. However, I think you're forgetting you did it by murdering your entire family in the process. Including your mothe-"** Zephyr cut him off, snarling and baring his teeth in his direction. **"Get. Him. Out. Of. My. SIGHT! RIGHT NOW! I SAID NOW!"** Yelling at the those who stood guard, they whimpered and hurriedly carried him away into the distance, stuffing a metallic gag into his mouth.

Turning back to the caravan, Origin had retrieved five feminine males from the sun religious cult. They looked slightly malnourished, and they looked as if they begged for water just by looking at Zephyr and the rest of the Blood Ulatlus'. Four of them had blonde hair, most draped around their tanned shoulders that were discolored. Most of them had the tiny dots across their skin, and they barely wore anything to hide their body. Akin to how he had cloths, they had given them their own from their medical kit, wrapping it around their chests and lower halves. Zephyr once again noticed the orange haired one. Unlike the others he had the gorgeous summer evening's colours twinkling in his eyes, and his skin was the most beautiful skin kissed colour Zephyr had ever seen. Zephyr did not realize he too had his ears pinned back as he watched the boy approach him, averting his irises from connecting. Swallowing harshly, he noticed no one had been able to give him one of the cloths to cover his chest, which had thin practically transparent fabric that made his breasts and nipples apparent. It was Zephyr's intention to cover him up, and as he beckoned the soft orange haired boy, Zephyr kneeled down and took out a red piece of cloth. Gently he tied it around the boy's back, and then another down his hips that were fully exposed before. **"There, that's better."** Whispering, Zephyr knew many Harvested individuals have come from abusive homes, and so he lowered his voice, his red eyes soft and gentle. **"Y-You. . . going t-to b-b-bite me?"** The boy shuddered when Zephyr adjusted the clothing, watching Zephyr's pale skin connect to his tanned own. Zephyr probably knew this was his first time observing a Blood Ulatlus. **"No, I'm not. I want to take you somewhere safer. Somewhere with water, clean clothes, and away from all this mess."** Zephyr whispered up at him as he continued to kneel, and the boy's eyes sparkled at the sound of water and food. **"Can you fly?"** Zephyr asks, opening his own wings as he knew that the boy was having trouble understanding him already, probably from the confused look he gave before he had opened his strong wings. **"N-Not. . . well. . . but I c-can."** Wobbly, he stood up and opened his wings, and instantly Zephyr stood behind him, watching him slowly lift off. Already he knew the boy wanted to fly in the opposite direction and into the hills, but luckily, the boy hesitantly followed, albeit slow. The promise of food to the boy was probably greater than starving in the desert alone.


End file.
